Page 4128 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
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MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I did not say that he had his hands and feet in the trough; I said that he was trying to get them in there.
MR SPEAKER: Order! That is the same thing. I ask you to withdraw it.
MR BERRY: I will withdraw that and apologise to those members whom it might have offended. This legislation does not deserve the attention of the Assembly at this stage. The hidden agenda is shown by the salary cap equalisation proposal. What a flippant approach to funding arrangements for Assembly members' staff. Mr Collaery treats this place like a bit of a football team.
Mr Kaine: It sounds a bit like the Raiders.
MR BERRY: It sounds as though Mr Collaery is trying to raid the Assembly pockets. That is not on at this stage of proceedings. I do not think that what he is up to is fair dinkum. It does not deserve the support of members of this Assembly, and the amendment proposed by Mr Collaery deserves to be defeated by 14 votes to three.
MR JENSEN (11.13): The Bill put forward today by my colleague Mr Collaery is an important one for the good government of the ACT because it will ensure that all members in the Assembly are provided with sufficient resources to enable them to do their job. Frankly, that is what this is about - providing adequate representation for the people of Canberra. The job of a parliamentarian is to represent the people and, with sufficient resources, especially staff, to assist them in research, to examine government legislation and contribute to the debate.
In the case of the ACT Legislative Assembly, with a minority government and the group of people we have on the opposition benches, excluding you, Mr Speaker, the Liberal Party has three members on the floor of the Assembly - exactly the same number of members as the Residents Rally. That, Mr Speaker, is the difference. You will note that the proposal being put forward is not for an increase in any shape or form in the amount of money provided for the support of members' staff; it is for an equalisation.
I heard Mr Berry make some snide comments in relation to the use of the term "salary cap". That term has been used over the last 2 years by all members of this Assembly in relation to the amount of money allocated to each member for staffing. It has always been acknowledged that members of the Assembly are entitled to employ as many people as they can within the amount of money allocated to them by the Chief Minister. That is what we mean when we refer to a salary cap. It is an appropriate term, it is used by this Assembly, and it is well known by all members.
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